One of the nation’s largest biodiesel plants is up and running today as Louis Dreyfus Commodities opened the doors of its 88-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant near Claypool, Indiana (pictured above).

The opening gained the praise of the company owner, the state’s governor, and of course, the National Biodiesel Board:

Governor Mitch Daniels and Robert Louis-Dreyfus, owner of Louis Dreyfus Commodities, addressed the attendees. “Claypool is a strategic centerpiece for our company’s future,” said Louis-Dreyfus. “This plant affirms our century-old practice as a market innovator. We are grateful to be a partner with the state of Indiana and the local community in this new venture.”

“Louis Dreyfus is helping to meet what we hope will be America’s continued growing demand for renewable, cleaner-burning biodiesel,” said Larry Schafer, NBB political senior advisor. Schafer attended the grand opening event today. “It is adding valuable refining capacity to our nation’s fuel supply and replacing foreign oil with environmentally friendly, domestically produced fuels.”

To give you an idea of just how big the plant is, the average biodiesel plant produces only about 9.5 million gallons a year. This is about NINE TIMES that big!

The opening comes during an unprecedented amount of growth for the biodiesel industry in America. The National Biodiesel Board says overall national production of biodiesel has gone from about 25 million gallons in 2005 to an expected more than 300 million gallons by the end of this year.